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New Delhi: India’s gymnastics squad for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4 is caught up in a selection controversy over the women’s artistic team after sports authorities and the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) differed on eligible names. During a meeting involving the authorities administrating the country’s sports, officials argued that Pranati Nayak and Protistha Samanta qualified based on their performances at the last year’s Asian Championships in South Korea, as the latest continental meet – which was held in China from June 25-28 – fell outside the selection window ending June 20. However, documents accessed by TOI show the Asian Gymnastics Union (AGU) confirmed nominative entries by name, with Pranati qualifying in vault and Nishka Agarwal securing a direct all-around quota. The AGU stated these quotas belong to the athletes and cannot be replaced unless the gymnast withdraws because of injury or personal reasons. Consequently, Nishka’s entry cannot be substituted, while Protistha can compete only if Pranati withdraws from the vault event. In men’s, Yogeshwar Singh and Tapan Mohanti’s entries have been approved by AGU in all-around.A GFI official stated that the federation had already forwarded the names of Pranati, Nishka, Yogeshwar and Tapan to the IOA and SAI, but was awaiting official approval before commenting further. “We would like to inform you that the GFI has already communicated its recommended team composition for the Asian Games to the IOA and SAI for their consideration. However, we are yet to receive any official confirmation or approval from the concerned authorities,” stated GFI.
